Monday, Sep 09, 2002
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By Manas Dasgupta
The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, during the 'gaurav rath yatra' in Bhagvel on Sunday. — Photo: Paras Shah
Even senior BJP leaders were pleasantly surprised at the turnout and encouraged a beaming Mr. Modi to launch a frontal attack on the Congress. Mr. Modi questioned the credentials of both the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and its State unit chief, Shankarsinh Waghela, for demanding the cancellation of the rath yatra. Calling it a "Congress conspiracy to defame the 5 crore people of Gujarat", Mr. Modi said the people would give a fitting reply through the ballot boxes whenever the Assembly elections were held. "It does not matter if the elections are held in December or in 2003; even if the elections are held in 2013, the rout of the Congress is definite." The rath yatra was flagged off by the BJP general secretary, Rajnath Singh, in the presence of members of the Modi Cabinet and other senior leaders. The former Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, also briefly addressed the gathering. The yatra, which culminated at Himmatnagar, was peaceful today. The murder of a BJP Councillor of Kadi municipality has caused tension as the yatra is scheduled to come here tomorrow. The Councillor, Kirit Patel, was allegedly shot dead by one Ajaysinh Jadeja today while making preparations for the yatra. Three persons, including two boys, were also injured when Jadeja fired indiscriminately, police said. The grand show at Phagwel, a non-descript village known for its temple of Bhathiji Maharaj, overshadowed Mr. Waghela's rally at the same place last Tuesday. Despite Mr. Waghela's call to the Kshatriyas to boycott the BJP rally, a huge crowd turned up. Both Mr. Modi and Mr. Singh asked the party workers to maintain peace in the face of any "provocation" by the Congressmen. The Congress might try to disrupt the yatra only to prove its point that it had sparked off violence "but you must thwart all such attempts", they said. In an attack on Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Modi repeatedly stressed her Italian origin and said only the Congressmen "who were wearing Italian spectacles" could not see the "rich history and traditions of the State that make every Gujarati proud". Mr. Modi said the post-Godhra riots, which were "highly condemnable and a blot on the peace-loving people of the State", had been blown out of proportion ignoring the fact that 98 per cent of the State remained unaffected. Questioning the democratic values of the Congress, he said that in a democracy every political party had the right to go to the people. "We never asked the Congress not to take out a rally. What authority does it have to demand that we cancel our rath yatra?" He threw a challenge to Ms. Gandhi to organise a "rally of this size" anywhere in the State and said the Government would provide her all facilities if she had the "guts to face the people of the State". He was equally critical of the national and international media and the "gang of former Prime Ministers" who had time and again tried to defame the people of the State by "blowing up issues out of proportion.
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